First, in January 1975, the swearing in of the first openly gay state legislator in the United States, Massachusetts state Representative Elaine Noble.
Massachusetts State House, corner of Beacon and Park streets: Home to three LGBTQ landmark events. Here in 1970, gay-identified groups such as the Homophile Union of Boston (HUB), Boston Daughter of Bilitis (DOB), Student Homophile League, and the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) congregated to commemorate the Stonewall riots of New York City one year earlier-Boston’s first Pride.Ģ. And while you enjoy the fresh spring air, enjoy your equality too!ġ.ěoston Common: Begin at America’s oldest public park, which has been home to countless public rallies reaching back to pre-American Revolution times. An interactive Google map can be accessed here.
The full list of places with commentary is below.
It's all here in the Greater Boston Area. Then the trail ventures out to places like Cambridge, site of the nation's first civil marriages for same-sex couples, and on to Allston, where the Rita Hester was murdered, an event that has been called a Transgender Stonewall because it led to the international Transgender Day of Remembrance. The path winds through much of Beacon Hill and the South End, where so many gay people gathered, lived and rallied in the 20th century. This Equality Trail commences at the Boston Common, where some of the city's first gay rights rallies were held. With the country's first civil marriages for same-sex couples, the first openly gay elected state official in the U.S., the first gay newspaper to go national, the first gay youth prom, and the place where the transgender day of remembrance traces its roots, Greater Boston is the cradle of equality for American LGBTQ citizens.Īnd with the warm spring weather upon us, it's an ideal time to get out and explore where the history happened.Ī couple of years ago, Boston Spirit magazine consulted The History Project, Boston's LGBT archive, and others in order to map out a historical trail encompassing the incredible array of LGBTQ achievements of the area.